Twenty years later, the negative and positive impacts of the terroristic attacks of September 11, 2001, still linger. 

After the attacks, there was a sense of community and patriotism that struck most Americans, and the UCA community specifically. 

“Maybe part of what made UCA a community came from that day. Maybe that was the start of when we realized we didn’t just work here, we are a real community,” Director of the School of Communication Donna Stephens said.

At the time of 9/11, it was Stephens’ third year as a lecturer in journalism at UCA. Fall 2001 had been the semester the journalism department moved from the basement of Old Main to Stanley Russ. 

UCA continued to hold classes that day. Former interim provost and dean of faculty Sam Buchanan sent an email to students and faculty encouraging a dialogue about these events with classes. “If the opportunity presents itself to discuss the tragic attacks in Washington and New York, such a discussion may well be beneficial for our students,” Buchanan said. 

Because the attacks occurred on a Tuesday, Stephens recalled that she had three classes of beginning reporting. Instead of resuming class, as usual, the classes met and went upstairs to watch the news coverage from the only TV in Stanley Russ.

The Echo’s, volume 90, issue 4, from Thursday, September 13, 2001, dedicated the front page to the attack. 

Stephens was The Echo advisor at the time. She said the journalism students recognized that this was a big news moment—probably the biggest in U.S. history to date. “I just remember being very proud of the students,’” Stephens said. 

The Echo Voice for that week was titled “Our fellow Americans.” The staff said, “In a matter of moments our typical, cynical attitudes were stripped away and a surge of sympathy and patriotism came forward.” 

People’s lives were turned upside down, and they were, in turn, humbled and fearful. “It was like a jarring, out of our age of innocence when we felt like nothing like that would ever happen here,” Stephens said. “We felt vulnerable for the first time.”

The unknown had been the most daunting thing about 9/11. It created paranoia and anxiety amongst Americans and the UCA community. 

More than anything, people wanted answers. The Echo reported on October 11, 2001, that the Student Government Association held a panel on terrorism in the same week the Honors College High Table, hosted by law professors John and Karen Dipippa, addressed the new war on terrorism. “One [goal] is to develop an understanding of terrorism and why the attack occurred,” former dean of students Gary Roberts said. 

Arkansas Educational Television Network (AETN) public relations manager Tiffany Head was a senior at UCA and on The Echo staff as associate editor in fall 2001 when the attacks occurred.

“September 11th was an intentional attack on America, on our own soil, unlike anything we had known to that point,” Head said. “I think it took away a lot of the sense of security and freedom that comes with being an American.”

This led people to pray and rally around one another. Students gathered in front of Main Hall, around the flagpole, to pray for victims. UCA teamed up with the American Red Cross to hold a blood drive for the victims of the attacks. Instead of resorting to humor, The Echo’s “Docket” (known now as the “Police Beat”) said, “We elves feel that the events of the week would totally overshadow any attempt at making humor. Out of taste, we have chosen to give straight-up news this week. Say a prayer for your fellow Americans in their time of need.” 

“From the time of the attack and in the days that followed, I just remember not feeling 100% safe. I was worried for our country. I was sad for the families,” Head said. “And, I prayed they would find more survivors and that people could somehow be okay.”

Head recalled a photography assignment where she needed to submit a photograph that represented the attacks and how Arkansas was reacting. “I settled on a chain-link fence at an elementary school where they’d pushed red Solo cups through to write a message of encouragement,” Head said. “I don’t remember the grade I got, but I can still see the cups in my head.”

Others took things into their own hands. A year after the attacks, The Echo reported on April 18, 2002, former history professor Ruth McClellan-Nugent chose to retire from UCA and join Naval Intelligence. McClellan-Nugent was inspired to serve because her friend had been on one of the hijacked planes that crashed in New York. McClellan-Nugent also said, “In a way, I am doing this for my students. I’d like them to have a safe environment to learn in.”

Selfless acts like America witnessed after the attacks are not as nationally prevalent now. “There was a great outpouring of patriotism after that. You felt like we were in this all together,” Stephens said. “And unfortunately, that’s that has not continued in recent years. To me, that’s more heartbreaking now that we’re not one like we were then.”